Elections in Venezuela continue to cause controversy inside and outside the country

The regional elections last Sunday in Venezuela, which were an attempt to see if it is possible to hold legitimate elections in the country, continue to make people talk after several countries indicated that the necessary standards were not met.

This Thursday, the regime of Nicolás Maduro rejected the United Kingdom’s statements about the elections, after the European country indicated that “although electoral conditions may have improved, and the participation of more opposition parties was welcome, it is clear that the conditions necessary for free and fair elections fell well below the required standards ”.

It considers that in the words disseminated by the United Kingdom there are “unacceptable qualifications” about the elections that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates, were held “with the most absolute normality and civility”.

The United Kingdom added that opposition candidates “were arbitrarily disqualified, state resources were channeled and access to the media was skewed in favor of the Maduro regime (…), there are still serious structural deficiencies that need to be addressed.”

According to the latest data, Chavismo won the elections in, at least and pending completion of the count, 18 of the 23 governorates and in 205 of 335 mayors, collects EFE.

Meanwhile, Russia, an ally of Maduro, congratulated him on the elections.

“We welcome the participation in the elections of representatives of a broad sector of the opposition, which presented more than 60,000 candidates … Russian observers were also present, according to which the elections took place in a peaceful environment, without significant violations, and were organized in strict compliance with the laws and observance of sanitary precautions ”, declared at a press conference the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova.

The Russian diplomat attacked “some countries”, referring to the United States and Canada, which “deliberately ignore these facts” and “once again question the legitimacy of the elections in Venezuela”, something that has become a “default predisposition ”.

The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, described the elections as fraudulent, stating in a statement that “the regime altered the process to determine the outcome of these elections long before the ballots were cast.”

Although the European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EU-EOM) highlighted improvements in its preliminary report compared to three previous events of this type, Canada announced the day before its rejection of the elections, considering that Venezuelans did not have “ conditions for free and fair elections ”.

Threats to mayors

The number two of Chavismo, Diosdado Cabello, reacted to the mission’s report that reflected irregularities in the elections for governors and mayors on Sunday, as well as “better conditions” with respect to previous elections, and said: “Spies, come here to spying on the revolutionary process, Mrs. Isabel (Santos, head of observation), you failed, like the empire where you come from, the Indians here have taught you a lesson, imperialist lady, and take your report wherever you want ”, according AFP.

Santos had also said in his report that the observers were “witnesses to the establishment of illegal checkpoints”, called “red spots”, by the ruling party in the vicinity of the voting centers.

In addition to talking about the mission of the European Union, Cabello also said on his television show (With the mallet giving) phrases considered threats to elected opposition mayors.

“I have observed that some of these people from the opposition who won in some municipalities go around like crazy burning things. I am going to tell you something, opposition gentlemen who are in that attitude: we are not at all when you made guarimbas … we are not in the conditions of 2015. Be careful, a wheel can come out of the cart and do not go to make a mistake again … That the organizations raise the information and report whoever has to report. And if he is mayor, he goes to jail, and then he goes to jail for destroying state assets. Do not say that I did not tell you, I am not threatening anyone, but here for there to be peace there must be justice, “said Cabello.

Opposition politicians have denounced that the ruling party has prevented shows of support for their candidates and are seeking pressure measures so that the people do not come out to demonstrate.

One of those cases occurs in Barinas, where the opposition Freddy Superlano wants more clarity in the results, since he assures that he won the election against Argenis Chávez, brother of the late President Hugo Chávez. The count has not finished yet.

These votes were held with the return of the main opposition parties after refusing to participate in the 2018 elections, in which President Nicolás Maduro was reelected, and those of 2020, in which Chavismo regained control of Parliament, for consider them “fraudulent”.

But the opposition participated divided, and agreements on unitary candidacies were not reached, except in a few regions, thus leaving the way clear for the PSUV to win a landslide victory, winning at least 19 of the 23 governorships.

In addition, the opposition leader María Corina Machado, one of those who opposed participating in the elections, believes that opposition leaders should be chosen by popular vote to try to unite them again in the same proposal, according to a published video by politics.

Santos announced that he will return to Venezuela “at the end of January, beginning of February,” to present the final report. (I)